3h35 in the cinema: This moving documentary may be long, but it deserves your full attention!

This is the first documentary that can touch your heart in theaters earlier this year and I recommend you go to the theaters to find out. And don’t be afraid of its length (3h35), you will be charmed by the group of young sunny souls brought to the screen.

For his new film titled Youth (Spring), Wang Bing chose to set the camera in Zhili, China’s garment capital, 150 kilometers from Shanghai. Over the course of five years, the observational master photographed rural youth in Huzhou’s Wuxing District, near the Yangtze River, who came to work in this hotbed of exploited workers who are still full of hope.

Although they are involved in intensive and uncertain jobs in the textile industry, the group filmed by the Chinese filmmaker maintains a childlike spirit (they are between 17 and 21 years old) and enjoys their breaks and moments of life every day in their dormitory. , as a kind of summer camp.

They work tirelessly so that one day they will be able to raise a child, buy a house or create their own workshop. Friendships and romantic relationships between them form and fall with the seasons, bankruptcy and family pressure.

Thanks to Wang Bing’s film, we follow their journey through the small moments of life that tell us more than meets the eye about their personalities, their dreams, their emotions, but also about the working conditions of these young people.

From 2014 to 2019, the Chinese filmmaker followed them in their daily lives and workplaces. Young people trust him, but also local business leaders, who did not forbid the occupation of working conditions as long as production was not interrupted.

If you want to discover youth (spring) in cinema, know that this is the first part of a trilogy of films that will follow the same people over a long period of time. Director Wang Bing explained to Cahiers du Cinéma that he originally planned for a 10-hour film!

Wang Bing’s film Youth (Spring) is currently in theaters.